2 Kings 23:14

14 He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men

2 Kings 23:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 23:14

And he brake in pieces the images
Of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, in the above high places; which as these high places had been rebuilt by Manasseh or Amon, so new images of these deities were placed there:

and cut down the groves;
in which they were set:

and filled their places with the bones of men;
of idolatrous priests and worshippers, buried in parts adjacent; these he dug up and scattered in the high places and groves to defile them, bones of the dead being by law unclean, ( Numbers 19:15 ) .

2 Kings 23:14 In-Context

12 The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Yehudah had made, and the altars which Menashsheh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king break down, and beat [them] down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

13 The high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Shlomo the king of Yisra'el had built for `Ashoret the abomination of the Tzidonim, and for Kemosh the abomination of Mo'av, and for Milkom the abomination of the children of `Ammon, did the king defile.

14 He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men

15 Moreover the altar that was at Beit-El, and the high place which Yarov`am the son of Nevat, who made Yisra'el to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

16 As Yoshiyahu turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.